The Foreign World Next Door
Achmad takes a deep breath. His yoga teacher tells him to exhale slowly. “Send the air out over the Dead Sea,” she says. When he inhales again, oxygen- and bromine-rich air flows into his lungs. The twelve-year-old Achmad suffers from cystic fibrosis. Together with young people from other countries, he has come for a three-week health cure in Ein Bokek. Anna Beck, General Manager of Children’s Relief Bethlehem, describes the simple idea that brought him there: “Children with lung problems from all over the world come to the Dead Sea – so why shouldn’t they come from Bethlehem, which is only 30 km (less than 20 miles) away?” Now, as the result of a new program with the Israeli therapeutic center Ein Bokek and the Christiane Herzog Foundation, patients from Bethlehem can benefit from treatment in Ein Bokek for the first time.
The healing effects of the Dead Sea do Achmad good. The sad thought that he must live with an incurable disease are far away – at least for a while. For the first time, he feels the burden of his illness lightened, and this normally somewhat depressed little boy begins visibly to enjoy the desert’s pastel colors, the water – warm, buoyant, very salty – and the soft voice of his yoga teacher. Achmad has discovered a new world. “Before Achmad went to the Dead Sea, he would only hide in the kitchen,” says Margit Lindner, a German physiotherapist at the Caritas Baby Hospital in Bethlehem.
Achmad’s family is poor and doesn’t have the money for a doctor, let alone therapy – so he concentrates on his health cure all the more. He has already gained over four pounds, his blood has higher oxygen saturation, and he has a bit of a crush on a German patient… but Achmad is especially happy at experiencing the friendly, helpful attitude of the Israeli personnel at the therapy center. Until now, Achmad has seen Israelis only as soldiers at checkpoints – or more threateningly, as they carried out nocturnal house-to-house searches. Here, it is a completely new experience for Israelis to be helping him, for Israelis to be concerned about his wellbeing. This is the first time that Achmad has ever left Bethlehem, and he is determined to benefit as much as possible from his stay in Ein Bokek. He participates intensively in each exercise. His health cure has taught him one thing: that fighting the good fight brings benefits. Anna Beck, too, is looking confidently into the future: “We hope that after Achmad, other Palestinian children as well will be able to benefit from the Dead Sea experience.”
Cystic fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis is a heriditary metabolic disease. It is incurable. Sufferers produce thick, viscous mucus that inhibits the function of multiple organs. Earlier, patients died before reaching adulthood; today, with suitable therapy, their life expectancy may be 30 years or more.
